byu grad

some of my books I am getting rid of

I am done.  I did it.  A few weeks ago I finished my last class at BYU.  I am a college graduate.  I have a bachelor's degree in Psychology.  Well, my official graduation date is December 20th, but I am claiming it now.  I could write a paper about all my thoughts and feelings about going back to school, accomplishing this goal of mine, etc.  Actually, I did, for part of my last class I wrote an eight page paper on my experience.  But for this blog I will just say what I said at the end of my paper: the biggest thing I take away from this is that I can do hard things.  I wasn't always sure of that.  Several times Allen had to remind me that I could.  I'm glad I learned that lesson.

philly

Allen took his staff to Philadelphia for the annual AAO meeting.  It was a great city that we enjoyed for a long weekend.  First, there was the history:

 Independence Hall was impressive.  We really enjoyed hearing about how history was made when those brave men signed the Declaration of Independence-so inspiring.  The Liberty Bell was not as big as we expected, but still neat to see.

 Second there was the food:

 We went out the first night to find the "best philly cheese steak sandwich".  It wasn't so good.  A little dry and plain for my taste.  We ate breakfast every morning at the old Reading Railroad (yes, from Monopoly) that is now a huge market of yummy foods like smoothies and juices, crepes, ice cream and a few Amish restaurants that were very yummy.  One had an apple dumpling that melted in your mouth, another had doughnuts that yes, melted in your mouth.


Third there was Rocky and Love:

 So funny, at any given time you could see 2-4 middle aged men running up these steps with their wives in tow taking pictures.  But you have to do it, right?  Well, Allen had to.

 The Love sign was also much smaller than we expected.  But it made for a cute picture.

flu and birthday

 Last month I got the flu.  It really knocked me down.  I spent about a week doing this.

I also had a birthday last month.  I got five cards.  Three had dogs on them.  I have never gotten a dog card before.  It made me smile.

40X2

Last year Allen and I turned 40.  To celebrate we headed to Arizona, to the Miraval Spa.  This place is our definition of heaven.  It had it all:  relaxation, exercise, nature, yummy-healthy food, high adventure, low adventure, and of course massages.  This is the kind of place that I have wanted to go to for many, many years, and it did not disappoint.  I could go on and on about every detail, but I won't.  The things we got to enjoy at this all-inclusive resort:  awesome food, a juice and smoothie bar, exercise classes all day, hikes, high ropes activities, lunch with a nutritionist, a cooking demonstration of the resort's cookies (and we got to eat them), photography class, pool, one massage/body treatment a day, and we got to eat meals in our white robes.  There was more, but we ran out of time.  

our porch off our room

Allen on our hike, that's not a belt, but fanny pack they gave us loaded down with water

Allen about to do "a swing and a prayer'

one of many juices

one year later

 the difference a year can make

 May 2011 and 2012

Italy-Venice and Florence

Venice-I had heard good and bad...a must see and skip it. I am very glad we went. We were only there a little over 24 hours, but I thought it was beautiful and quaint. I loved being in a place with no cars. I liked seeing the UPS boat, and the UPS guy wheeling packages around in his cart.

Florence- This was our favorite city-the one we could live in. Art everywhere. We went to the Accademia and saw David. This sculpture was the one thing that impressed me more than I expected. It was much larger than I imagined and was just amazing. Photographs were not allowed, but Allen snuck this photo with his phone. You can tell just how large it was when you see the people standing next to it. We also went to the Uffizi Museum.

We did quite a bit of our shopping in Florence and enjoyed getting great deals in the open air markets.

Our last night in Florence we went up to Piazza Michelangelo and enjoyed the incredible view of Florence.

We had a driver take us from Florence to Rome. We stopped at two Tuscan villages. This is the view from one of the towers-beautiful.

38 and counting

cake with chocolate mousse icing-yummy!

My birthday cards were themed "top 10 things I love about mom". Here are my top three favorites:

Carter: you read to us when you would rather watch TV

Jared: she always thinks of us first

Claire: you adopted me (wow...words can't described what I felt when I read those words)

my day

I had a great mother's day. Thanks kids for the breakfast in bed, the yummy dinner and dessert, the songs, the cards, the candles, the coupons, the back scratches, the hugs, the kisses, the flowers. Thanks Allen for helping all those things happen, for the flowers, for the card, for the massage, and for keeping the conversations focused on mother's day. It was fun to hear what they would say about me. ("what do you think mom's favorite vacation was? what do you think mom would do with a free hour? Who can name all the things mom does for us?") I love you all more than I can express.

aprons

Claire and I are enjoying our aprons that Lori made us for my birthday. Thanks Lori!

Trees

Most of my blogging is about my kids or our family. I want to, every once in awhile, start blogging about myself. Why? So, when my kids read this years from now they will have some insight to how their old mom viewed things, big and small.

So, trees. I love them. I love living in the part of the country where they are everywhere and they change color. Know this about your mom kids, my mood changes when I am around trees. They just make me happy. I love driving down the road looking at the hills filling in with leaves or watching them change color and fall. We have always lived with lots of trees in our back yard. I often can be found just looking out the window at our trees, my mood improving each minute. I especially like the big tall ones that sway in the wind.

So kids, if you are reading this 30 some years from now, does this sound like you? Did you get this love from me? I would guess Jared to be the one who notices the trees. Was I right?

happy birthday to me

I celebrated another birthday this month. I am now officially older than Allen for the next 6 months. He will remind me of this fact about a thousand times in the next 6 months. I had a great day. The kids were out of school and Allen was off work, so it really felt like my birthday all day. I have said this before, but I want to write it down so my children can read it later. They MAKE my birthdays. My birthdays have become more about them then me. Without them, it would just be another day. But seeing their joy and excitement makes me feel so good. Watching their faces as I open up the gifts that they picked out all by themselves is priceless. Their hugs and kisses, their back scratches, their cute smiles, their "happy birthday mom!" 100 times a day. I want them to know how much this meant to their mom-it meant everything. I have vivid memories of each child the first time they could actually sing "happy birthday" to me. It made me cry every time. Isn't that weird? I don't know why it affected me so much. It was somehow significant to me, a milestone that touched my heart.

This year I requested that instead of going out to dinner, that the kids (and Allen) fix dinner for me. This thrilled them. They did a great job. My birthday cake was made by them also and it was yummy!

Allen surprised me this year with one of his gifts. I have been wanting to find a way to print my blog into a book so that I would have a hard copy of this "journal". There had not been a way yet. Well, right before my b-day, blurb came up with a way how-Allen found out and I did not. So Allen was able to surprise me with it on my b-day. Probably one of the best gifts he has given me. I instantly started to cry and couldn't stop. Partly because I was so surprised and so thankful to my wonderful husband. But mostly because I was looking at this book with pictures of my three kids on the cover and filled with memories about them. And my heart was full of the love I have for these three kids. I think I have said it before, but I am at a time in my life where I can't get enough of my kids. They are at such great ages. They are not perfect, but right now they are pretty close. And I am enjoying this time with them so much.